Industry News
Melbourne Hackathon Targets Aged Care
The weekend played hosted to a 48-hour hackathon aimed at providing solutions to the health concerns facing today’s ageing population. More than 18 solutions were developed in Melbourne with experts from HealthXL, Victoria’s Northern Health and Alzheimer’s Australia, along with health researchers and technical experts from IBM. [ + ]
Reducing the Risk of Lynch Syndrome
A paper published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association led by researchers from the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, reveals that women with one child are 60% less likely to develop uterine cancer, compared with women with no children, and even lower for women with more than one child. [ + ]
Weekend Operations have Worse Outcomes
A lack of experienced staff, reduced availability of testing and increased waiting times for treatment of urgent cases has been blamed for the results of a study in BMJ indicating patients admitted to hospital on a weekend have a higher risk of death than those admitted during the week. [ + ]
Treatment Discovered for Girls-Only Epilepsy Condition
Girls suffering from a rare form of epilepsy due to a mutation in the X-chromosome will soon have access to their first chance at treatment, thanks to University of Adelaide researchers and Marinus Pharmaceuticals who are about to commence clinical trials. [ + ]
Is Private Health Cover Working in Australia?
Australia’s largest private health insurer Medibank Private has ended its contract with ACT private hospital group Calvary Health Care following months of negotiation. [ + ]
Australia Invests in Primary Healthcare Nurses
The numbers of nurses working in rural and remote settings will increase as part of a partnership between the Federal Government and Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association (APNA). [ + ]
Happiness and the Art of Care and Conversation on the Cancer Ward
A guest post from The Conversation, this is a touching and heartfelt story from the patient's bedside. [ + ]
Regional South Australia Receives Diabetes Care Framework
In regional South Australia, populations have been identified has being at risk of potentially reaching “unacceptably high rates” of diabetes, with 30,000 in the Country South SA Medicare Local (CSSAML) area cited as currently living with type 2 diabetes, either diagnosed or undiagnosed. [ + ]
Focus on JulEYE and Top 5 Eye Conditions
As the aging population sets to increase and the number of people suffering from chronic disease escalates, the importance of early detection and diagnosis of eye conditions is of uttermost importance. This month we are using the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Opthalmologists (RANZCO) Eye Foundation's JulEYE as a month to advocate for eye health and the community of eye health professionals. We have invited Allanah Crameri and Vivan Law who are specialist Orthoptists with Orthoptics Australia to share the top 5 eye conditions people commonly suffer from and some handy tips on what to look out for. [ + ]
Detention Centre Medical Workers to be Jailed for Speaking Out
Today The Guardian Australia published a piece reporting on Immigration Minister Peter Dutton’s new legislation and the gag order it, in effect, places on the terrible conditions medical staff are witness to in Australia’s detention centres. This legislation is the Border Force Act and comes into effect from tomorrow 1 July. [ + ]
Is 2015 Shaping Up to be Our Worst Flu Season?
This year’s flu season is being hyped to be the worst yet, according to numerous reports distributed throughout medical and public media. [ + ]
A Man Walks Into a Bar … and Picks up a Superbug
The NPS MedicineWise short film competition #SaveTheScript run in conjunction with Tropfest was held in Sydney last night, with the winners announced. Participants were briefed to make a 45-second film about the threat of antibiotic resistance, and the winning film by OneWay Pictures entitled The Pick Up is an amusing and sexy take on a serious situation. [ + ]